Cops and Robbers
by EvilGnomes
Summary: Tripp maybe be at Wammy House, and may have no recollection of anything before Wammy House. But she wasn't an Orphan. Or at least didn't think she was. After all, she didn't lose parents. She just forgot them. MelloxOC.
1. New Blood

**A/N:- I'm going to make this quick as I don't really like using these. Yes, this is the same story DeadVampRising wrote in 2005. She has handed to me because she has had no time and feels I could help bring it back seeing as she hasn't touched it since 2005. I have changed and added some things in the story but not much so the first couple of chapters should be recognisable to those that have read it before. **

**That is all.**

The white snow fell to the ground covering it in a gossamer sheet. A large ominous church stood at the end of the road making the scene picture perfect for a Christmas card. A Christmas car the Addams Family would approve of, but a card none the less.

The preteen girl smiled softly, not really paying attention to much. Looks like this was her new home. Her only home in fact, at least from what she could remember.

The car stopped, knocking the girl out of her dazed state. As the woman who brought her here went to get her suitcase from the trunk, the girl stretched and stepped out into the frosty air.

Wammy House Orphanage, founded by Quillish Wammy, was even more impressive in person that it was on the internet. The old building was large and ornate very close to the Cathedral's seen in Italy and France. A large rose window sat up at the bell tower, glistening as the sun hit it in the right direction, sending subtle rays of pinks, red, greens, blue, oranges etc, over into the air.

Scratching her head, a frown on her face she sighed. It was a bit over the top for an Orphanage, like those you see in horror movies or on the news.

The preteen was rather normal in appearance. Dark jeans and a grey and black striped tunic top was all she had along with her boots. No coat, she hadn't felt the need for one seeing as she was in a car for most of the journey

It was this normal appearance that helped her blend in with society, probably the main reason why it was so hard to find her at all. Though with the white snow surrounding her she looked like a raccoon stuck in a snow storm, stripes and all. Minus the pink and green strips in her hair, unless it's a raccoon that took a bath in pink and green water.

Taking the suitcase from the woman she made her way up the stone stairs to a grey haired man with a receding hair line who was wearing a warm smile, even if it was only for show.

"Hello Roger. This is the girl I told you about on the phone Tripp MacLellan. Tripp this is Roger, the principle if you will of Wammy House." The woman told her. Tripp smiled at the man warmly, it would be smart to make a good first impression after all.

"Pleased to meet you." Tripp said, shaking his hand. It was rough from looking after children since his young adult years, and from aging, yet it was welcoming, despite the fact his fake smile was not as such.

"Hello Tripp and welcome to Wammy House. I hope you enjoy your time here." his voice was slow and considering, not surprising seeing as he needed to be careful with what he said around child geniuses. They tended to pick up on more than they let on and Roger would pay the price later, a price he tended to regret.

"I'm sure I will." she replied. With that the woman took her leave and Roger walked her into the huge church like building.

The long and tall halls of the Orphanage were truly awe worthy, an artist dream. Like something out of a Victoria Frances painting, yet the hall where deserted. She saw some older kids in the library- which exited her with its vast collection of books, at least she'd found a place to hide if friend making landed in the drain- and others hanging out in what looked like the lounge but that was pretty much it.

Tripp asked Roger about this.

"Everyone is in class right now. I see no point in putting you in for lessons today but if you wish you can sit in with the last lesson to see what it's like?" He asked stopping at door 223.

"I would like that." Tripp nodded. At least this way she could try and put names to faces before the first official day arrived.  
"I'll get someone to take you to the class in two hours time. In the mean time this is your room. At the moment you don't have a roommate but you may gain one later on. I'll leave you here and again welcome to Wammy House." He smiled walking back the way he came. Tripp sighed and opened her door.

The room was basic, a bed, a desk, beside table and lamp, a computer and a dresser for clothes and junk. The computer was a bonus that Tripp was glad about. She found that she was a bit of a computer freak in the past couple of weeks. Tripp put down her suitcase on the bed and gave a half-hearted smile as she ran a hand through her coal black hair.

"Looks like this is home now."


	2. Badass My Ass

_"I am nobody  
Nobody is perfect  
Therefore, I must be perfect!"_

_~Anon_

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

It had been two hours and 15 minutes since Tripp had first arrived at Wammy House Orphanage. Not that she had been counting every bone killing hours of boredom she had to deal with. She had finished unpacking about 15 minutes after Roger had left her here. She had travelled light mostly because well, that was all she had. There wasn't much to do after that, so the computer was chosen as her next activity. Wammy House was very impressive. Founded by Quillish Wammy, an inventor, it was made to help geniuses realise their true potential. A school for the gifted.

All they needed to do now was have a secret plane under the school and all of them to have mutant powers and it would be like X-Men.

An older girl escorted her to her class, she seemed nice enough but talked to much for Tripp's liking. Every second didn't need to be filled with words, unless it was an awkward silence, then it was perfectly fine. The girl, Amelia, lead Tripp to a room that was occupied by about 16 pupils (not including herself) and a female teacher. An Interactive Board was being projected onto the white bored and from the looks of the writing, it was English class. Tripp smiled.

"Hey."

Tripp saw the teacher smile and motioned for her to come in.

"Ah! You must be Tripp, the new student Roger told me about. Come in, come in. Thank you Amelia. You can go now." Amelia left after waving bye, leaving Tripp alone with 16 pairs of eyes watching her. Tripp smiled lightly, getting more embarrassed as the silence went on.

_Screw silence, get Amelia back in here! _

The teacher pulled Tripp over and made her stand in front of the class as she put a hand on Tripp's shoulder.

"Class this Tripp. She just arrived today so make her feel welcome." The teacher's speech was followed by a ring of half-hearted hellos. It was nearing the end of the day after all and they were preteens, expecting more was like expecting a Michael Bay movie to have no explosions in it.

"Tripp how about you tell us a little about yourself?" asked the teacher. Tripp stiffened, this was what she'd been dreading. Having to give information she didn't have. She had no idea what she truly liked or didn't like. So far all she could figure out was that she hated meat and liked music and James Bond-esque gadgets.

She gave a half-hearted laugh and scratched her head, her automatic nervous reaction.

"Um. Well I can't really do that." Tripp said.

"Oh come one no one will tell." The teacher laughed. She obviously hadn't been updated on Tripp's 'condition' or was new. Tripp noticed how everyone was now interested in this odd girl standing on front of them, they were there to become the next L. It was natural that they would be curious. Tripp sighed, her hands dropping to her sides in defeat.

"I mean it I seriously can't tell you." Tripp said looking down to the floor.

"Why not?" the teacher asked, truly stumped. Tripp looked the blackboard, trying to avoid all eye contact.

"Because I woke up two weeks ago without _any_ previous memories. I couldn't, can't, remember anything, not even my own name. Yet, I am remembering facts information. For example things I've learnt in school. But not much else." Everyone stared at this girl hoping for more information while the teacher went beat red and excused herself from the classroom, leaving Tripp standing in front of the class. That would be the last time she ran off to class without listening to what Roger had to say.

"Hey look every one. It's Mello's long lost sister." Laughed a boy with very short blonde hair, making a majority of the class laugh, except for a feminine looking boy with blonde hair, a maroon haired boy, a boy with white hair and a couple of girls. Tripp guessed that the blonde hair boy was Mello as he looked like he was about to blow a gasket.

Tripp frowned at the Loud Mouth.

"Are you sure you're not getting mixed up with your own reflection?" She asked innocently. At that moment the teacher came in again an apologized. Tripp was told to take the empty seat beside the window at the back, which she did.

"Oh, before I forget. Mello and Matt, you're to show Tripp around for the week. Order's from Roger as punishment for what you did last week. " She told them. Mello, who was sitting in front of Tripp, mumbled an angry agreement. He already knew he was in enough hot water from the 'incident' the week before. Apparently the Cooks where still trying to get custard off the Dining Hall floor.

"Don't be so enthusiastic." Tripp whispered but the maroon hair boy must have heard her because she saw his shoulders shaking with laughter. Mello noticed this and nudged his friend.

"What you laughing at?" he asked. Matt pointed to the girl behind him with his head, not taking his eyes of the DS screen. Mello turned to see the girl looking outside, a dazed off look in her face.

"Mello, you can look at Tripp after class, right now you need to pay attention." The teacher called making the class burst into giggles.

"Looks like Mello has a girlfriend." The boy from earlier said laughing. Tripp rolled her eyes and sighed. So much for an easy first day.

Well, at least she knew some names now.

The rest of the class went by in a daze. She wasn't asked much, this was only a watch and learn class for her. Every so often she noticed the glares from Kyle and others from his obvious gang. Man, she never thought school would be this bad. She wasn't sure if it was because they were all geniuses that they acted so mean to each other, trying to outdo each other or if it was like this in normal schools too. Hopefully it was normal.

Before she knew it the bell for the end of the day rung and everyone made their way out of the class, not before the teacher, whose name Tripp kept missing, gave the final announcement.

"Remember! All classes are cancelled for the next two weeks for Christmas."

Tripp frowned.

Christmas?

Tripp was packing up when a shadow fell over her. She looked up to Mello who was looking down on her, a chocolate bar in his hand and the red haired boy looking at his DS screen. He was about to say something when Tripp stood and walked towards the door. She got to the doorway until Kyle and gang stopped her. Tripp sighed.

"Hey, girly…" instead of listening to him she attempted to push through them but couldn't.

"Move." She told them, not bothered with niceties. They just laughed.

"Oh, come on. I just wanted to say welcome. We are the Welcoming Committee after all." Kyle grinned. A lie, obviously.

"Really? 'Cause I'd expect them to get someone with better _manners_ to be part of the Welcoming Committee." she stated, glaring at him. Kyle growled, well attempted to growl. It was more like a dogs wine than a growl.

"You should watch you're talking to _girly_." He sneered, finger pointed into her face, making her lean back slightly. Tripp's glare became more noticeable as his sentence finished, as before he could take another breath Tripp fist came into contact with Kyle's jaw making him stumble backwards and cry out in pain. Mello, Matt and the teacher came running when they heard the contact.

"What happened?" the teacher demanded looking at Kyle who was holding his jaw in pain.

"He can't take a punch." Tripp said, turning to the teacher, looking as if she had just deducted something and not punched a boy in the face. The teacher looked at Tripp in shock and then to the Kyle who was glaring at Tripp in murderous anger. She would pay for that later. Seemed like that was becoming a trend for her. The teacher sighed.

"I'm sorry Tripp but you'll have to come with me." Tripp nodded, expecting this. Mello and Matt frowned at the girl's willingness and that she seemed completely oblivious to the fact she had just punched a boy not caring about the consequences. Tripp was taken by the teacher to Roger's office, Mello and Matt following behind.

When Tripp came out she was looking at the hand she'd punched Kyle with. It was still stinging with the contact. Mostly because she hadn't punched someone before.

Well, she couldn't remember punching anyone, but what that boy Kyle said to her set something off.

Had someone said that to her before?

She walked passed Mello and Matt, not taking in their presence, just looking at her fist, a frown sketched into her face.

"Hey! You!" came a voice from behind. Tripp jumped slightly before turning to see Mello and the red haired boy walking up to her.

"What do you want?" she asked in the same snippy tone Mello had used. The two boys walked up to her, the blonde biting into a chocolate bar and the maroon haired boy playing his DS.

"We were told to show you around. If you're found wandering around by yourself we will get the blame." Said the maroon haired boy. Tripp frowned for a moment then it hit her.

"Ah, Mello and Matt right?" she asked, pointing to the blonde then the maroon haired boy. Mello smirked.

"Yeah, and you're the girl who punched someone on your first day. Quite impressive for your first day." Tripp rolled her eyes and sighed.

_Brilliant. The 'badass' is talking to me._

"Why'd you punch him anyway?" asked Matt, not looking up. Tripp shrugged.

"Beats me." She shrugged, looking off into space, twirling her necklace.

"What do you mean by that? You don't know why you punched him?" said Mello taking another bite of chocolate.

"I was pissed because he was in my way. But why exactly I punched him _that_ hard I have no idea." Tripp said, shrugging again. Mello frowned at the odd girl standing in front of him as she twisted a locket in her fingers.

"Are you two planning on moving anytime soon?" asked Tripp looking at the two boys. Mello smirked and turned, walking the way Matt and he came, Matt following not looking up.

"You coming?" Mello called over his shoulder. Tripp grumbled angrily to herself. She didn't want to follow the stuck up blonde but she had to admit, she was lost in this huge orphanage. Running behind, Tripp looked over Matt's shoulder to see he was playing Mario Kart.

"Is that any good?" she asked, watching the Gamer. For the first time the gamer looked up to Tripp who was watching the screen.

"Yeah. Why? You like video games?" he asked. She looked at him smiling.

"Well, I've played some but I'm not very good. Can't remember anything so I sort had to start again with video games. Guitar Hero is good though." She said walking beside Matt, who was again looking at the DS screen,

"So how is the whole amnesia thing?" asked Mello out of the blue. Tripp looked at Mello who wasn't looking at her.

"It's irritating. It's like… it's like you have a jigsaw puzzle and you've almost finished but the main pieces are missing. In short it sucks." She nodded.

"What's that you keep playing with?" Mello asked, acting like he didn't care. Tripp looked at him like he was an idiot.

"It's a banana, what the hell does it look like." She asked him, irritated by his stupid questions. Two girls walked past Tripp and laughed at her dark appearance.

"Nice Halloween costume." The blonde one said giggling. Tripp turned to the girl, smiling sweetly.

"Really? Thanks, like yours better." Tripp told her looking at her short skirt and yellow vest. The brown haired girl blinked, taken aback as Tripp followed Mello and Matt.

Matt laughed at Tripp's comment to the blonde girl.

"Assholes." Tripp said to herself. She turned to Mello when she felt his eyes boring into the side of her skull.

"Take a picture it will last longer." She told him. Mello glared at her and she just smiled and turned back to face were she was going.

"I was being serious when I asked what it was." He told her. Tripp sighed.

"Well seeing as you asked I _so nicely _I'll tell you. Its locket, it was round my neck when I woke up, it's the only thing I have from my past. Cheesy, but hey. It's life, I guess." She told him, not looking at the blonde boy and biting her thumb.  
"Were did you wake up? See as you were found, I'm guessing that it wasn't in a house." the gamer said. Tripp gave a small laugh and smile.

"Well, we are asking a lot questions today aren't we boys?" she said turning to the two boys.

"You came into the class claiming not to remember anything about your past yeah, we're curious." Mello told her. Tripp rolled her eyes and sighed, she should have expected anything less. As said before, it was an Orphanage full of geniuses and geniuses are curious.

"No it wasn't in a house, far from it actually. I woke up in an alley with several stab wounds and a concussion the knife still in my back. An old man came over to me; he must have heard my groans of pain. He phoned the police and helped me out then sent me here." She told them. She looked up to see them both with shocked looks on their faces.

"I still have the knife actually it's in my room. I still need to wear a gauze for a while but that should stop in a couple of weeks, then I'll have some lovely scars." She told them shrugging and giving them a thumbs up.

"And this happened only two weeks ago? How can you be so damn calm about it?" asked Mello. Tripp laughed.

"Because from my point of view I'm lucky. Most of the children here have lost their parents. Me?" she said looking at the two boys from the side of her eye.

"I just forgot them."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


	3. Rock N' Roll

_"Self-pity is our worst enemy and if we yield to it, we can never do anything wise in this world." _

_~ Helen Keller_

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Tripp remembered everything that had happened since she'd woken up.

The pain coming from her back was immense, yet she didn't cry. By the time the man found her the pain was numb, yet throbbing. Old rain water had been dripping onto her face as she lay on the ground but she would dare move. She attempted to call out for help but only soft wines came from her, yet they were heard by a passerby. The man.

Paramedics had come and taken her to the hospital in an ambulance, helped her at the scene and did what they could before they arrived. A&E was packed when they finally got there, but she had been considered an emergency and rushed in. She had been losing blood quickly and was dipping in and out of consciousness. It soon went dark again, before she was blinded by white lights and high pitched beeping hurt her ears.

She was interviewed soon after waking up, the old man had been in beforehand, telling her to tell the detectives everything she knew.

Not that she knew anything.

The doctors diagnosed it as Amnesia. A mixture of both Post Traumatic Amnesia and Source Amnesia. Must have been pushed after being attacked, knocked her so hard that she lost her memories, they said. Brilliant help they had been.

She stayed in the hospital for about a week before she was finally let go. During her stay, the old man told her about Wammy House and asked if she would like to go. She agreed, of course, she had nothing else.

Tripp wasn't bothered by what happened to her, or emotionally scarred. She just decided to take it as it is and not moan. Yes, she was a bit on the shy side and couldn't look people in the eyes but that was just a minor setback. A trust issue. Hopefully she'd get over it soon.

In the words of the Buddha, _"Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful."_ And as Tripp saw it, she was still alive and well, maybe a bit on the scarred side, but other than that, fine. Others didn't have that luxury.

She never spoke to that odd looking man that came in to the hospital, just for a moment. He just came in when Tripp was being treated and looked at her. Then he whispered something to the man and left, the only emotion she could see on his face, even if it was only for a second, was confusion.

Why, she didn't know... but she was still able to wonder. That's was what was good about being at Wammy House, 'Wondering' was just and everyday thing and wasn't hidden. If you wondered then you would try and find the answer, even if it meant asking straight up.

Now here she was, walking down the halls of Wammy House Orphanage, discussing random things in her head. Like what colour would a Smurf go when it was being suffocated.

"This is the main dormitory halls, boys and girls aren't split into two separate wings it's just mixed. Rooms are kept to certain genders though. Boy's share with boy's, girl's with girl's." Mello stated, motioning vaguely up the stairs.

"The Dining Hall is down the hall on the right in the lobby as you come in and is the first large door you see. The Kitchen is connected to the Dining Hall. You go there if you miss any meals. You can get the Cooks to save you the good stuff if you flatter them or trick them into it." Mello continued pointing to the door.

"I doubt it will work _now_ though. After what _you_ did in the Dining Hall last week." Matt stated, making Tripp curious.

"Did what?" Tripp asked. Mello was about to say something but was cut off by Matt.

"Mello started a food fight with Kyle last week. Kyle and his friends told Roger it was Mello and I's fault but we got into trouble for it. Kyle got his punishment a while back. Had to scrub the dorm toilets for a week." Matt laughed as Mello grumbled something that sounded like –he deserved worse. Either that or he deserved a horse, and that just didn't sound right.

Tripp frowned in thought.

"Not that I'm 'defending' Kyle or anything, but wasn't his punishment worse than yours? I mean, showing the new blood around isn't as bad as having to scrub toilets." Tripp grimaced. Yep, toilet scrubbing definitely sounded worse, though it really depended on what Mello and Matt thought. For all she knew, they could find her as annoying as scrubbing toilets.

"It isn't, luckily. Mello and I get into trouble with him enough times that he's just given up with us. Roger isn't very fond of kids, especially Mello and me but because of our rank he's given up on us."

Our Rank?

"What do you mean by 'rank'?" now that confused her. Was their some kind of army rank in this place? She hadn't heard about anything like that. They'd slowed down now and would be better off standing still than moving at all.

"Everyone in this place has a rank according to their intelligence level. Matt and I are in the top five. Kyle on the other hand is rather low down. He's here because of his musical talent. Matt because of his knack with computers," Mello began.

"And Mello because he's pretty much good at everything." Matt rolled his eyes dramatically, not that it was really noticeable through the orange glasses. Tripp nodded, showing her understanding, also noticing Mello's smug look.

"Anyway, back to the 'showing around'. The Library is on the next floor, the large door as you reach the top of the stairs. It's usually pretty busy during study periods, so the best thing to do is to go after classes end or before they start, it usually empty then." The tour went on rather quickly after that, mostly full of the boys taking turns to show where things where. And by show, it was more say where they where and wave their hand in the possible direction.

"If you want you can stay with us until dinner or you can go back to your room. You're choice." Matt said, shrugging.

"I'll stay. I'm still trying to remember all the _brilliant_ directions you gave me." Tripp stated sarcastically. Mello shrugged and opened the door to the right of where they were standing.

It was a gaming room. A good one at that.

Several large plasma screens where set up round the room. An XBOX 360, Playstation 3, Wii, Nintendo GameCube's etc. Each console had its own TV, in its own little area. A dance machine was also set up against the wall with racing games, pinball machines with it. You could spend a day in here without getting bored.

The walls where painted dark blue apart from one wall that was decorated with games, like a library.

She hadn't seen a game room like this before. Just the small room in the hospital that was full of kid's toys.

"This is where we usually hang out. Not many other people come here unless they actually like us." Mello stated, taking another bite out of a new chocolate bar that had magically appeared. A genius and a magician? Maybe Matt wasn't exaggerating when he said Mello was good at everything.  
Tripp looked around and grinned sinisterly when she spotted the one game she'd actually played apart from Pac-Man on the computer. Long nights in a hospital where amazing tedious.

"Matt?" she asked looking at him from the corner of her eye. He turned to her.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Wanna' play Guitar Hero?" she asked. Matt smiled.

"You're on!"

The next half hour was spent playing Guitar Hero. Tripp won two games out of the 20 they'd actually played, and Matt won the rest, even if she had come close a couple of times. She had a sneaking suspicion he had let her win but when she confronted him with that idea he just denied it. So much for guys and their egos. Mello joined into after much persuading from Matt.

"Oh come on Mells! Just one game! Or are you to chicken?" he teased. Tripp laughed and made a chicken noise and Matt joined in after a while. She wasn't sure why she felt so at ease with the two boys, she didn't think she'd trust people very easily because of what her first known experience of life was but she was surprisingly at ease. She thought, maybe, that it was the fact that Matt took things so easily and was very mellow about everything, except games that was, whereas Mello was easily agitated and didn't back down from a challenge. They acted like two brothers with each other and that was what she believed was making her relax. It wasn't anything serious which was what she needed right now.

"I'm not a chicken! Give me that controller!" he fumed, sticking the new half eaten chocolate bar in his back jeans pocket and yanking the guitar controller away from Tripp. She mumbled nonsense and sat back to watch.

Matt won, no surprise there.

"Game set and match!" he shouted as he won. Mello jumped up and pointed at Matt.

"I want a re-match! This controller stopped working half way through!" he shouted. Tripp scoffed.

"A bad workman always blames his tools." She tutted, the ducked when tried to Mello through a pillow at her. An action that was surprising to her nonetheless.

"Okay Mells. I'll _give_ you a re-match just stop attacking the new girl before she gets hurt. _You'll_ be the one that gets into trouble." Matt reasoned, elbowing his best friend. He obviously knew how to stop a Mello rampage, being his only friend helped in some sense; he was never on the receiving end of a Mello rampage.

Tripp sat back down thinking it would be a good idea to stay near Matt when Mello was pissed. She snickered at his name, whoever named him didn't know what Mello meant. Unless it was meant to be ironic.

Matt ended up picking 'I Love Rock n' Roll' a song Tripp hadn't heard yet.

"_Saw him dancin' there by the record machine."_

Wait._  
"I knew he must a been about seventeen"_

Tripp frowned, trying to think.

She'd heard that song before.

The beat, the voice...they sounded so familiar, something she hadn't experienced since she'd woken up that fateful night in the alley.

Tripp pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes; trying to remember as the noises of the games room fades out of focus.

_Lights glittered out onto the dark streets from a small café, half window curtains obscuring people who are talking over the music, drinking there coffee or hot chocolate from the outside. The smell of coffee and smoke was suffocating. A girl gets up to leave at the same time as the person a couple of tables away from her does. She still hears the music as she walked out the café, nut it was fainter now. The music started to fade into muffled but the tune was being whistled by an unknown person close by. She walks into an ally, the whistle following from behind. Suddenly a sharp object goes through her lower back and…_

Tripp gasps as she sits up suddenly, her back arching. Mello and Matt turn to her slightly, still trying to see the screen.

"Are you okay Tripp?" Matt asked but Tripp didn't hear him. All she thought was that she needed to get to her room and fast.

Tripp continued to take in air like a fish out of water and stood quickly, too quickly in fact as she ended up swaying slightly, but not enough to be noticeable. Matt paused the game, concerned. Girl arrives at Wammy House after injury and is acting odd. Not usually a good sign.

Unable to look the boys in the eyes she motioned to the door.

"I've got to go." She said, dopily leaving before they could say anything.

Her feet battered the carpeted hallways, not caring about the "Hey!" 's and "Watch where you're going."

Before she'd arrived at Wammy House the old man that had help her, and ultimately sent her to the Orphanage, also told her to write down anything she remembered as soon as it came to her. That it might open some new doors to her past. She followed his instructions, planning on carrying a small notebook with her but as usual she forgot about it, again.

Skidding into another hall, she stopped, realising she's taken the wrong turn. Cussing under her breath she turned to run back the way she came, too fast to notice the white figure turning the corner at the same time. Tripp ended up running right into him, knocking them both to the floor. Opening her eyes she saw the boy with white hair she saw earlier in class. He was looking at the floor, emotionless. She stood quickly and held a hand out for him but he refused it and began picking up the toys he dropped when Tripp ran into him.

"I am _so_ sorry!" Tripp exclaimed, helping him pick up the toys, just noticing they were there. He was short, but not tiny, dressed completely in what looked like a white pyjama top that hadn't been buttoned correctly and baggy blue trousers.

"It's okay." He said in a monotone voice, playing with a strand of white hair. Tripp noticed the toys were Transformers, she'd seen them when at the hospital and a _very_ hyper little boy decided to indulged her with the story about Transformers and showing her what each one did. She had to admit they were pretty cool. When the toys were picked up Tripp apologised again.

"I really _am_ sorry. I was just trying to get to my room." She cringed. He looked to her.

"You're the new girl." He stated, not asked. Tripp nodded.

"I'm Tripp." She said holding out her hand.

"Near." He said shaking her held out hand. His skin was just as white as his clothes, a large contrast to his dark eyes. Tripp cringed again.

"Sorry about that" she said, motioning to the broken Transformer in his hand, that she recognised as Jazz from the little boy's rant. Near didn't seem to really care that much but she wasn't sure, for all she knew he could be crying on the inside. Tripp gave a nervous giggle.

"I guess I'm not called Tripp for nothing." She said, trying to lighten the mood, touching the back of her neck with a hand as she always did when nervous. Near still didn't say or do anything. She sighed and looked behind her. She could admit defeat.

"Sorry again. Look I really have to go now but I'll make it up to you later, I promise." She said starting off down the hall, running into every second person.

Near stayed where he was and looked at the retreating girls figure.

What an odd girl.

She'd fit in perfectly here.


	4. Fitcher's Bird

_Alas, what did she behold! Both her sisters lay there in the basin, cruelly murdered, and cut in pieces. But she began to gather their limbs together and put them in order, head, body, arms and legs. And when nothing further was wanting the limbs began to move and unite themselves together, and both the maidens opened their eyes and were once more alive. Then they rejoiced and kissed and caressed each other._

_~Fitcher's Bird, The Brother's Grimm_

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"Are sure this is the right way Mello. I think we just walked down this hall." Matt stated, staring warily at the strange portrait he was convinced he saw only ten minutes ago.

"I'm sure Matt, now come on." Mello stated, grabbing hold of the red-head's shirt. "Diner started five minutes ago and I don't want all the good stuff to be gone by the time we get there." Matt stumbled for a bit under the blonde's guidance but quickly regained his balance and just followed obediently. At least this way he could avoid running into anything as he played his game.

They'd been looking for Tripp for half an hour now, mainly because they would get into trouble if they lost her. They didn't want to ask Roger where she was; if they did then he would know that they lost her and get into even more trouble than they were in. Luckily, Amelia had been studying in the Library, trying to finish of her dissertation on Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. Her talkative nature came in handy with her desired profession, Lawyer. Like all of the children that weren't in the top five, she realised that it was useless competing to be L when there was already Near, Mello and Matt in the top line up. Everyone knew it was fruitless to try and beat any of them in test scores, especially Near and Mello. It was always the same. Near, Mello then Matt, at least in the compulsory subjects such as English and Maths. After the compulsory subjects they where the best in their own field, like Matt in Computing. Unfortunately for everyone, Near and Mello's 'Game' involved them taking the same subjects, making Mello come second every time. This was the main reason that Near, Mello and Matt were ignored by all the other students. No one wanted to get involved in their little blood feud.

Amelia told them where Tripp's room was, even if it did take a while for her to get round to telling them, and said to tell her that Dinner was in fifteen minutes. Not that they expected finding the door with 23 on it to take twenty minutes. The Orphanage was bigger on the inside than it looked on the outside. Though with the talkativeness that was Amelia, the boys had bolted out of the Library before she could tell then what wing Tripp's room was in, the fact that was causing them the trouble now.

'_Since you have gone into the chamber against my will', he said, 'you must now go into it against you're own. Your life is finished.' And he threw her down, dragged her into the room by her hair, struck off her head on the block and chopped her into pieces so her blood streamed all over the floor._

Tripp grimace at the book in her hands, the blood rushing to her head making small spots appear in her vision.

Sitting upright instead of upside down over the side of the bed, Tripp continued to read "Flitcher's Bird" from The Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales book, frowning every so often in morbid fascination. Well, the movie trade aren't as ahead of the times as they thought. People where using gore to scare their children half to death _way_ before movies were.

Looking at her watch, Tripp saw that it was now 6 o'clock. She'd ran like a bat out of hell to her room about an hour ago now. Maybe she should go and find the boys, apologize. They had been nice to her and she acted like an ass to them and could get them into trouble.

She had planned to go and find the boys as soon as she had finished in her room, but her scars had a different idea, thus leaving her to change the gauze which was quite difficult by herself. So instead of going to find the boys she lay down, hoping this would cause the cuts to calm down, which then lead her to past the time with a good old The Bother's Grimm Fairytale.

Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata played softly in the background as Tripp sighed. Time to face the music before she completely chickened out.

Opening the door revealed Mello and Matt, standing there like deer caught in head lights, Mello with a first raise to knock and Matt looking amused as he stared at his DS screen.

"The bell rang for Dinner five minutes ago." Mello stated as he lowered his fist and backed up a bit. Tripp nodded slowly, now noticing the smells of food from the kitchen making their way up stairs and through the building. It was the typical cafeteria smell that is the same no matter where you go and was always recognisable as lunchtime.

There was an awkward silence as Tripp followed the boys down the mesh of halls to the kitchen, making Tripp fidget with the hem of her top.

"Sorry." Tripp blurted out, pursing her lips afterwards as Mello and Matt turned, confused. "For earlier. I shouldn't have run out without saying anything first." Tripp stated. Mello just shrugged.

"You better be. If we lost you Roger would have given us hell for it." He stated, hands in his pockets that where now empty of chocolate bars.

"I know that. That's why I'm apologising."Tripp mumbled, going back to fiddling with her necklace and looking away, leaving it at that. Meh, at least she said sorry, even if Mello was being an ass about it.

The Dining Hall was large and ornate with Gothic Architecture like the rest of the Orphanage. The walls were a light mahogany with small cupid like figures and angles decorating the ceiling.

It was also full of other screaming kids.

Paper planes flew over her head causing her to duck as well as dodge incoming children. The wall to the far right had windows cut into them, allowing the dinner ladies to feed the kids without leaving the comfort of the kitchen, and Tripp couldn't blame them for not wanting to. The queue wasn't that large, only about ten children waiting and some others sitting at tables already. Then again there weren't very many kids in the Dining Hall at all. About 60, maybe more, but not much.

"Are you Vegetarian or something?" Mello asked, grimacing at Tripp's meal of a Veggie burger, chips and apple pie.

"HmHm." She nodded through the burger.

"Why?" Mello asked, poking at his own tray of ravioli and chocolate cake. Tripp shrugged.

"Didn't like the taste or smell meat, so I don't eat it." She told them as if it was obvious, taking another bite out of her burger, looking around.

There weren't very many children in the room at all, less that she thought now she was in the middle of it. A majority of the tables in the far corner where empty, and lot of the good food was still there.

"Essay writing season." Matt stated, answering her unasked question. "A lot of the older kids have essays and dissertations to write so are away working on them before tomorrow." Tripp nodded before looking back around, looking for any familiar faces. Kyle and his friends sat at a table in the corner furthest away from the door and dinner line and Amelia sat with her friends a couple of tables down, she couldn't see Near anywhere.

"What happened earlier in the games room, exactly?" Mello asked as if he was asking her what time it was. Tripp flinched, mumbling something incoherent as Matt sighed and glared at Mello. Mello really had a talent of being a bit _too_ nosy. He had to know everything about people, thought it made him better at something than Near.

"I didn't hear that." Mello said leaning closer so he could hear Tripp's mumbling and to annoy her, the latter being the main target.

"It was nothing, I just... had a flash back that's all. At least I think it was a flashback" She started as she looked up to see Mello in her face. "And can you back up a bit. Personal bubble." Tripp said, leaning back. Matt chuckled.

"Yeah Mello, personal bubble." Matt laughed causing Mello to glare at him. The day Mello understood what personal space was, was the day hell froze over.

They talked more during dinner, the two boys filling Tripp in on good movies like Lord of the Rings: Return of the King and School of Rock. Matt telling her about good games to play and what had happened in the news, the typical depressing stuff that makes everyone think the world is going to hell.

"What's with everyone?" Tripp asked, coming out of the dinner hall with Mello and Matt, looking around as younger kids giggled in the hall and the older ones hung decorations of streamers and tinsel from the ceiling and arches.

"L's coming on Christmas day. Everyone's trying to get ready." Matt told her, now tapping buttons in seemingly random order on his PSP.

"Who's L? And what and when is Christmas again?" Tripp asked, confused. She hadn't heard about 'L' before. Christmas, though, she had. It was on every poster, in every supermarket and mentioned on every radio station she had listened to on her way to Wammy House. Matt was about to explain it when Mello butted in, looking amazed.

"Who's L?! L is the world's best and most famous detective! He's solved hundreds of most difficult cases since he became a detective and we're all working to be his successor." Mello explained. Tripp frowned.

"How does he pick though?" she asked. It seem a bit silly to Tripp, making a bunch of five to eighteen year olds compete against each other? Not exactly the best idea.

"We are all numbered from intelligence level. I'm third, Mello's second and…"

"The little freak is number one." Mello growled, cutting Matt off again, looking slightly homicidal. Tripp was going to ask who the freak was but stopped when she saw Matt making a frantic cut throat motion behind Mello. She nodded and kept quiet, planning on asking Matt about the 'little freak' later.

"So," she started, trying to change the subject."What's Christmas again?" she asked, chuckling nervously, feeling slightly idiotic for not knowing about something that seemed to be a big deal.

"It's a day of lovey dovey namby pamby stuff where you give people presents and receive them to celebrate the birth of Jesus The Son of God." Mello said, looking less homicidal and no just miffed off and bored.

"It's also tomorrow. L doesn't visit very often as he is usually working on cases but he is free this holiday and decided to come and visit." Matt smiled, as Mello turned to him, frowning.

"How to you know that?" he asked.

"I overheard Roger talking to Watari on the phone." Matt grinned.

"You where listening into Roger's conversations?" Tripp asked. Matt shrugged.

"Not at all. I was walking by and just happened to hear it. Roger really has to stop talking too loudly." Matt said in all seriousness before turning to Tripp and grinning evilly. Tripp shook her head, frowning at Matt in worry yet smiling at the same time.

"I worry for this place. I truly do." She said, chuckling. "A psychopathic gamer is the third in line to be the world's greatest detective. The criminals are quivering in their boots I'm sure."

Tripp stopped.

"One minute. I need to ask Roger something." Tripp told the two boys as they past Roger's door. They both nodded and said that she was to meet them in the games room again.

"Come in." Roger called when Tripp knocked on the door. Tripp peaked round the door carefully and then came in silently as Roger looked up.

"How can I help you Tripp?" he asked, as he turned back to watch a moth flutter around in a glass jar.

"Um, I was wondering if I could go into town tomorrow if possible?" Tripp asked. If Matt was telling the truth she only had tomorrow to find out more about Christmas and to see if she could get something for the two boys.

"You are able to go from 10am until 6pm. You must return by 6 or you'll get a detention. Apart from that it fine." He told her. She thanked him and left running to the games room, hoping to beat Matt at least once in the games he had picked.


	5. Deck The Halls

_And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more. _

_~Dr. Seuss_

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Christmas day.

So far Tripp couldn't see what all the hullabaloo was about. All it was so far was gift giving, lots of red and green, and fairy lights. Though that didn't mean she didn't get anything for the boys.

Turned out that Wammy House gave every student an allowance of £10 a week for personal items, also to give the children a sense of independence as they were able to leave the Orphanage and go looking for something by themselves, well, the one's over 10 could. The children may be geniuses but that didn't mean thugs would go easy on them.

With the allowance she had been given by Roger before she left for the shops and the £30 she had been given by the old man, she had enough to get them something at least. As a thank you for showing her around.

The snow was falling again outside as kids ran through it, catching snowflakes on their tongues, having snowball fights and making snowmen. A large Christmas tree sat round the back and had been decorated with decorations made by the children with the artistic gift, same going for the ones on the inside as well.

Tripp stood in front of the lounge, grimacing and trying to pluck up the courage to go in. All she could hear from behind the door was what sounded like a chipmunk being murdered by being made to breathe in helium. Sighing and tugging at the hem of her tunic she opened the door to the lounge, almost falling over from bright lights blinding her as they swung violently around the room. The music was louder inside the room making her head spin. The room was darker than it usually was, a large Christmas tree in the corner with tinsel wrapped round it, along with thousands of coloured bobbles. Tinsel Garlands, hung from the ceiling with paper snowflakes and a silver disco ball. Food was laid out on the long table in the room, just beside the fire, covered with a white cloth and kids danced to the chipmunk murdering music in swaying and jumping motions that Tripp found slightly odd. She finally found them leaning against the wall furthest away from her –figures-, Mello with his hands in his pockets, mumbling something and Matt engrossed in his DS.

"Hey Mello! Matt! Catch!" Tripp said to the two boys throwing Mello a bar of chocolate from Thornton's and Matt a bright red protective case for his DS when the music was switched off, giving the dancers a break.

"What's this for?" asked Mello, warily eying the chocolate suspiciously. Usually everyone was staying clear of the two boys by the time they realised Mello had anger management issues and Matt just didn't care about anything.

"You're showing me around aren't you? It's a thanks." She told them smiling, pulling at the sleeve of her dark green tunic. The two boys had helped her out a lot over the passed two days, more than she'd expected. They'd filled her in with everything and anything, including L and Christmas.

They –by 'they' it was Mello as Matt never got a word in edge ways- explained to her exactly what he did and how he was a role model to everyone in the Orphanage. He also told her about the BB murder case and all the other cases he'd solved.

By the end she had to admit this L guy did sound pretty amazing even if he had only started visiting recently.

"It was a murder case involving a student from Wammy House. He was L's backup. Beyond Birthday." Mello began as Matt rolled his eyes, hearing this story a million times before and went back to his game. "He went insane trying to beat L and tried to create a case L couldn't solve. The LA BB murder case. He ended up killing 3 people then attempted to kill himself, lighting himself of fire so his was unidentifiable as B from Wammy House. Leaving no killer to catch, thus making the case unsolvable." Clever. Yet, what about the other successors? The ones that have come after B and A. So far it seemed that this school was just here to make people go insane with stress.

"L realised that with A's suicide and B's extravagant plan to beat him that he should start talking with and visiting his successors. Get to know them so they see him as a person, not a shadow to beat."

Matt then got to tell her about Quillsh Wammy or 'Watari' as he was more commonly called, the owner and founder of Wammy House. An inventor who opened an Orphanage for the gifted which was later called Wammy House.

"Thanks I guess." Mello said to her.

"Thanks," Matt said copying Mello.

"What? No present for me Tripp. I'm hurt." Kyle said from behind. Tripp groaned inwardly, she'd hoped she was done with him on the first day after she punched him,- hopefully- almost breaking his jaw. According to Mello and Matt Kyle was a Mello wannabe. Mello was known as having a fierce temper, and Kyle took that to a new level and began being the local badass. Even if Mello always beat him at it.

He also constantly made remarks about Mello and Matt, but that was only when there was a teacher around or when the boys weren't in the room. Everyone knew not to mess with Mello unless you wanted a broken bone. He was only here because he was good at physics, as in Quantum Physics good-surprisingly.

Hoping to get it over with so she could get out of the room and away from the irritating music, she turned swiftly on her heel, facing Kyle and smiled again.

"Oh I have a present for you." She told him, clasping her hands behind her back and standing on her tiptoes, then, without warning, she kneed as hard as she could in groin making him fall to the floor.

"Merry Christmas!" she told him when he collapsed to his knees, arms out as if bowing. With that she bolted, knowing that Kyle wasn't going to leave it.

Kyle's buddies looked to their leader in shock that he had been floored-once again- by the new girl.

"What are you idiots doing?! Go get her!" Kyle shouted to them, making them run after the black haired girl who was laughing as she left the room, after jumping onto several tables and dogging the food as Kyle's gang attempted to do the same but falling flat on their faces instead.

She intended on going to her room but knew that's the first place they would look for her, instead she ran down the opposite hall from her room. She could hear the boys shouting at each other but they were too far away to know what they were saying, making them sound like a pack of wild animals more than anything else.

She caught her breath at corner, leaning against the wall so she knew if anyone came near her. Her breathing was ragged and her throat was sore. Running _really _wasn't her thing. She looked round the corner and saw Kyle himself at the end of the hall, unfortunately he saw her as well, mostly because of her hair. As they say, 'If the enemy is in range, so are you.'

"You!" he shouted running over to her. Running as fast as her feet could to take her she ran and turned the next corner only to run into something hard making her fall to the ground, hitting her backside.

"Ow." She stated. Opening her eyes she saw the brown ceiling and a voice calling for her.

"Are you okay?" it asked. Groaning she sat up lithely to come face to face with a dark haired boy.

"Are you okay?" he asked again, standing and holding out his hand to her. She nodded and took his hand, pulling herself up. When she was vertical she shook her head to clear the white sparkles that appeared in her vision, then looked at the boy that she'd ran into wanting apologize. The boy was skinny; she could see that even through his baggy jumper and jeans. He also had dark rings under his eyes, making it look like he hadn't slept for days, something Tripp could relate too as she tended to stay up longer than she should, of course it always seemed like a bad idea the next day. He was also pretty tall, despite the fact he was slouching so he was almost eye to eye with Tripp.

"Sorry for running into you." Tripp said, brushing herself off and looking behind her to see no Kyle. Woose.

Though what he planned to do and get off with when he caught her was a mystery.

"You must be Tripp. Near told me that you have a tendency to run into people." The boy said. Tripp frowned.

"Who are you?" she asked slowly, frowning as she brushed off her green medieval looking tunic again.

"Ryuzaki. Though I'm more commonly known as L." He stated, scratching his shin with a bare foot.

"Ah, you're L? Please to meet you." Tripp smiled, looking behind her quickly. Still no Kyle.

"Kyle bothering you?" L asked. Tripp snapped her head round quickly.

"How did you…you know what forget it. Dumb question."

"Tripp! There you are!" Matt called, running over to L and her. He nodded at L.

"Hello Ryuzaki." he said politely as Mello came running up after Matt.

"How many times are you going to make us run after you!" he complained to Tripp, stopping dead in his tracks as he saw L.

"Well I never ask you to come after me." Tripp mumbled, but Mello was no longer listening to her. Too focused on his one and only idol.

"L! When did you get here?" Mello asked, trying to be as friendly as possible but not succeeding to that level. Tripp saw Matt roll his eyes under the orange tint of his glasses.

"He arrived here at three this morning. You were asleep at the time." Matt told Mello as all eyes went to him.

"What? I stayed up a bit late playing Halo. Is that a crime?" he asked. Tripp snickered and turned to L.

"Where was it you saw Near?" she asked him.

"What! Near saw you first! Damn it!" Mello shouted then mumbling an apology when L glared at him.

"He's in the playroom. Go down the hall then right and it's the second door on the left." He told her. She thanked him and was about to run off when he stopped her.

"And when you're done there come to Roger's office. Watari and myself would like to speak with you privately." Tripp saluted him and ran off down to the playroom, L also going in his own direction after saying goodbye to the boys.

"How the hell does she know Near!" Mello shouted to Matt who was seriously wishing she hadn't also. He didn't want another Mello rampage today, not that they were ever a good thing.

"How should I know? Let's go see." He said walking the same was Tripp had gone, Mello fuming behind him.

Tripp skidded to a halt as she reached the playroom, and poked her head through a gap in the door.

"Hello? Near are you here?" she called into the blinding white room.

"Over here." He called back. When Tripp knew where she was looking, she saw that he was crouching on the floor, barely visible with the white and blue pyjamas he was wearing, surrounded by a dice city.

"Wow. That is so cool." She told him walking over to him.

"Was there anything you particularly wanted?" he asked, placing another die on a tower. Tripp snapped out of her awe and gave an awkward chuckle.

"Actually yes. Here." She said, taking a rectangular box from the small bag that slashed from her shoulder to hip. Near took the box with caution.

"What is it?" he asked.

"It's a present to say sorry for breaking your toy." She told him. He opened the wrapping paper carefully, not to rip it, reviling a new Jazz Transformer. Near had to admit- to himself at least- that he was surprised. He wasn't used to getting presents as all the kids at Wammy House, except Linda and Matt, were wary of Near because of his rank as number one and his coldness towards people. He only ever really got present from Matt, Linda and Roger and maybe one from L when he wasn't working on a case.

"Thank you." He said genuinely, not that it showed. Tripp smiled, happy that she'd made someone else happy that day.

"You're welcome." She replied as Mello rampaged through the door.

"How do you know Near?" he asked her, trying to keep his voice low enough so no one would come running, not that he was succeeding very well.

"I ran into him two days ago, broke one of his toys so I bought him a new one and I was giving it to him now. What did I do?" she asked quickly, confused at what was going on.

Mello was about to say something else when Matt came to the rescue.

"Mello." he said calmly.

"What!" he shouted.

"The chocolate cake has been set out in the lounge." He said simply. That was enough to have Mello run out the room and down to the lounge, out of the playroom.  
"Well that was…odd." Tripp stated, looking at the door Mello had just ran out of.

"Nothing will keep Mello from chocolate. He's learnt from past experiences that it will be gone in five minutes. That and he ran out of chocolate this morning." Matt told her, handing Near a small box full of dice.

"What was with him anyway?" Tripp asked.

"Mello doesn't like me because I'm number one in line to becoming L's successor." Near said, not taking his eyes off the dice city as he continued lengthen the city. Tripp frowned. Dumb reason to hate someone.

"Tripp. You're supposed to go to Roger's office. Remember." Matt reminded her. Tripp jumped.

"Oh yeah. Gotta go." She saluted then running out the playroom. It was quiet in the play room until Matt thought.

"Do you know why she was brought to Wammy's?" he asked, sitting down to help Near with the dice city.

"No. But L told me that it was Watari's idea." Near replied. Matt chuckled.

"Sent by Quillsh Wammy himself eh? Must have been something good." He thought out loud.

Tripp knocked on the heavy wooden door and waited for a reply before going into the office.

"You wanted to see me?" she asked walking in cautiously. Roger was sitting at his desk as L and Old man sat in the seats opposite. Tripp couldn't help but smile when she saw L's way of sitting, totally awesome.

"Yes, yes. Sit down Tripp." Roger said, motioning to a chair that was angled towards L and Watari as well as Roger. She couldn't help but be a bit uncomfortable with them all staring at her.

"Now Tripp I believe you know Watari and L." Roger stated. Tripp smiled.

"Yes. Thank you again for helping that night." She told them. Watari smiled at the girl.

"You are very welcome." he nodded. It was silent for a minute, the only sound coming from L who was eating some cake.

"Tripp, I guess you already know what Wammy House Orphanage is for." L asked, breaking the silence. Tripp nodded.

"It's a school for people gifted in anyway. Which is what I don't get. Why am I here?" she asked, truly confused. Watari smiled again. Tripp couldn't help but like this old man, even if he hadn't been the one to find her.

"Remember when you where in hospital? When I asked you to follow the instructions to make a buzzer that would contact me through my phone?" he asked. Tripp nodded. It had been simple enough to do and fun enough that it got her mind off the pain from her back.

"Well, what you didn't know was that all the instructions were all wrong." L stated. Tripp froze for a minute. How could that be? The pager worked perfectly when she was finished and she'd followed the instructions.

"But I followed the instructions and it worked perfectly." She said a bit confused to where this was leading.

"Exactly. You unconsciously changed the instructions to make them work. Something only a very talented inventor would do." Watari explained. Tripp sat without saying a word for a moment. A talented inventor? Her?

"Why did you give me the task in the first place?" she asked, solemnly.

"We found a recording device in one of your jacket's inside pockets. Very well made but when I looked for who created it I couldn't find it anywhere. So I decided to see if it was you who created it or someone you knew. Seeing as you passed the test it must have been you. The recording contained very valuable information about a drug smuggling organisation. " Watari told her.

"So what does this mean?" she asked.

"What it means is that, if you like, you would be Watari's successor. If something should happen to him you would take his place. As you could guess, working as my spokesperson and personal assistant would have its life threatening moments. He would help you perfect your talent and, if needed, you would join Watari and I on cases. Field work is more important in Watari's job than it is in mine." L said, popping the last piece of cake in his mouth. All three men looked at her expectantly, waiting for her answer. Working with L to bring bad guys to justice?

Tripp paused, putting her thumb against her limp before smiling.

"Where do I sign?"


	6. Objection!

"_The jealous are troublesome to others, but a torment to themselves."_

_~William Penn, __Some Fruits of Solitude__, 1693_

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"Hold It!" Matt cried into the DS he was holding, making Tripp cringe as she jerked the screwdriver into her hand for the millionth time in the past five hours. Taking a deep breath, she began working again only for another cry to speed through the room three minutes later.

"Objection!" Cussing under her breath as the screwdriver caught her hand again, Tripp glared at the back of Matt's head.

"There's a little thing called you "inner voice" Matt. You should try it sometime!" she shouted as Matt just increased the volume of the DS, ignoring her completely. Tripp cussed again, her fingers twitching to wrap round his scrawny little neck and stop his breathing in its tracks. Mello chuckled from the side lines, watching Tripp's annoyance grow with satisfaction. Now she couldn't moan at him for moaning at Matt for moaning at the game, which was a common cause of arguments amongst the three. Not that Matt paid any attention to anything they said to him.

The three orphans sat in the Game Room, Matt playing his DS, Mello lounging around trying to perfect his 'badass' look and Tripp sitting at the table, trying to concentrate on her project assigned by Watari. 'Trying' being the main word in that sentence.

Clenching her teeth, eyes closed, she turned away from the noise, trying to drown it out and failing miserably.

This had become the norm in the past month Tripp had been living in Wammy House. She began working on inventions more closely now, not just designing random ideas but making them too if they where possible. Mello and Matt didn't really care when she told them about Watari's offer. The only part they cared about was the fact she got to go on 'work experience' -as they called it- and they didn't. Though they did understand. Watari's job required a bit more hands on experience that L's.

Compared with the two boys, she hadn't seen Near around much. Matt explained most of Mello's hatred towards Near- the fact that Near was number one, Mello wasn't which created a giant inferiority complex and was the cause of the arguments Mello started- and Tripp decided to avoid Near when Mello was around and Mello when Near was around so neither of them got hurt in the process of hurting each other. Mello, his ego and Near, somewhere on his body. The main reason Mello was feared so much.

Mello was surprisingly moody for a sober guy.

Though, some _could_ say that he was drunk on chocolate.

"What are you working on anyway?" Tripp jumped up in fright and a small sound came from her lips before she covered them with both hands. Discovery #36: Tripp was easy to startle.

Mello chuckled from behind Tripp, where he had been watching her building something that looked suspiciously like a microchip.

Her hands palm up as if surrendering, Tripp sighed, trying to calm herself down.

"It's a camera Watari wanted me to make." she stated, a pair of magnifying goggles over her eyes to help her focus in on the small parts. They may look ridiculous but they helped.

"But it's tiny." Mello took a bite out of a chocolate bar as he said this, looking sceptic. Tripp laughed.

"That's so," Tripp picked up a silver lighter that sat beside her, further away so it didn't get lost in the parts surrounding her. "-It fits in...this." Grinning, Tripp clicked the small 'camera' into the lighter before closing it up. "Smile!" Tripp exclaimed as she clicked a picture of a frowning Mello.

"You've got one strange idea of a smile." Tripp stated as she turned back to the work table, only for another "Objection" to come from Matt. "I have a new found respect for you Mello, having to deal with _loud_ and _obnoxious_ on a daily bases!" Tripp yelled closer to the end, throwing a green grape at Matt, hitting him on the back of the head. Not that he noticed.

Mello laughed out loud.

"Now you can't moan at me without being a hypocrite." Tripp glared at him, the goggles now on her head. They were very heavy and where giving her a headache but until she got this done she couldn't take them off. She just had to check if the picture was actually taken and if it would connect to the laptop.

"You say that as if I care about being a hypocrite." Going back to the laptop, Tripp opened up the 'lighter' revealing a small SD card that she plugged into the computer. The computer quickly found the device but not the picture itself. "Damn." Taking out the camera and slipping the goggles back over her face, she examined it and found the problem. It was a simple mistake and simple to fix.

"I have a question." Tripp started, looking for what the part that was missing. Mello looked away from the space he was staring mindlessly at to the back of Tripp's head. "Why are we the only people ever in this room?" Mello shrugged.

"Wammy House doesn't have very many pupils. The most it's ever had was like, 70 pupils and that was a couple of years ago. Now there are only about 50 pupils in the school and that not taking into consideration the older kids leaving this year putting it down to about 43 students. Most of them pick a room that they like the best and they stay there with their friends. Matt and I have the game room, of no choice of mine. Linda, has the art room."

"Near has the play room." Matt called from his spot on the floor, knowing Mello wouldn't mention him.

"Kyle has the Common Room, Leif had the garden etcetera. It's just something that ended up happening, and as it avoids arguments Roger doesn't really care." Mello shrugged, biting into the chocolate bar he had been eating for a while now and almost finished.

"You know, eating too much chocolate could kill you." Tripp stated when heard the familiar click of chocolate being broken.

"Yeah, 'cause drinking ten gallons of diet coke on a daily bases won't affect you at all." Mello said sarcastically, grinning, causing Tripp to mumble nonsense. She didn't drink _that _much, maybe about six cans a day...

Smiling in satisfaction as the picture Tripp had taken of Mello had now showed up on the Laptop, Tripp sighed and took the heavy goggles off her head, beginning to pack up.

"Leaving?" Mello asked, now playing Mario Kart: Double Dash on the GameCube with Matt, both of them pushing each other, attempting to make the other fall over.

"Yep, I've been sitting here for five hours working on this thing from scratch. And thanks to Matt I now have a killer Migraine." Tripp moaned as she clicked the suitcase shut. Matt gave Tripp thumbs up, not looking away from the TV screen.

"My evil deed for the day complete." Matt cackled, literally, before Mello succeeded in making him fall, losing his first place spot. Tripp chuckled.

"And _you_ are Third in line to be L? I fear for people, I truly do. Mello, try not to die anytime soon. I don't think having Evil Mastermind over there as the world's greatest Detective would help the world that much." Tripp grinned sarcastically, dragging the suitcase off the table and making her way out the games room into the hall. Although, it wasn't before hearing Mello curse as he fell to the floor as Matt tripped him up.

The air was much cooler in the hall than it was in Game Room. In fact, they shouldn't have even been _in_ the Games room at all seeing as the air-conditioning that kept all the consoles cool and free from overheating had broken. Not that it stopped Matt or Mello, Matt being the main culprit.

Rubbing her eyes with a thumb and finger Tripp continued down the hall, planning to drop the suitcase off at her room then sleep, something she'd been doing a lot of recently. Maybe it was to do with the painkillers she had been taking for her back or the fact her brain was still trying to figure out what the hell was going on, she wasn't sure. But whatever it was she wished it would hurry up and give in already. She felt useless needing to nap like a pre-schooler.

The year 2005 went by without much of a hassle **[1]**. L - or Ryuzaki as he preferred to be called – left a week after New Years. His first New Year's at Wammy House and with his successors. Watari still kept in contact with Tripp through emails, asking her to build something or look for something he didn't have the time to do or felt she should know. Being L's handler was busy work.

So far he'd gotten her to make a whole array of things, from trackers in shoes to cameras in lighters, many of them useful for surveillance or recording conversations secretly. The only difference between the shop bought ones and hers, where that the ones she made couldn't be traced.

In her time at Wammy House, she'd gotten used to the odd things that made Wammy House children unique. Each pupil – it seemed – has some sort of odd facial habit that showed their emotions more than what they said or admitted. Mello would stare you right in the eyes when angry, though that emotion tended to be easy to identify with his swearing. Near would fiddle with a strand of hair when thinking, nervous or angry. Kyle for example would suck on his finger while playing with the fabric tag from one of his shirts when he was thinking hard. Linda had a tendency to carry a small doll like key ring in her hand and play with it when nervous. Even Mello noticed that Tripp would play with the hem of her shirt of tunic when embarrassed and touch her neck when nervous. Of course these habits where over shadowed by other habits, like Near playing with his toys and Mello's addiction to chocolate.

Though, she had to admit, the only reason she noticed _any _of this was because Watari asked her to look for them. As Watari said "To be 'Watari' you have to know if people are trust worthy, and to do that you have to know what their habits are. If you know this then you can get reliable information from them without having to say a lot to them."

Sighing and yawning at the same time, she continued her way to her room in the east wing of the Orphanage.

Collapsing down onto the bed, staring mindlessly at the ceiling, Tripp closed her eyes. She didn't dream much, and if she ever did she never remembered them. She wished she would. She wished she could remember something, just one thing. Opening her eyes she stared at the computer. She'd tried looking up something. Missing persons' reports turned out nothing at all, looked like either she was already an orphan or her parents didn't give a shit.

She jumped up in fright as panicked banging on her door woke her from sleep. It also caused her to fall onto the floor. So much for her prima ballerina idea.

"Come in" she mumbled into the carpet before standing. Quickly she brushed herself off before looking at her watch. 4pm.

She'd been asleep for two hours. Meh, she'd done better. Looking up she saw Mello standing there, handing in his pockets.

"Oh, hey Mello, where's Matt." She asked, looking behind him. Mello scowled.

"Not here. I need to talk to you." He replied sitting down on her bed. Tripp watched with wide eyes when she saw that he had no chocolate bar in his hands.

"Oh. My. God you have no chocolate bar it must be serious. You two having marital troubles again? 'Cause I'm not really much of a marital counsellor- Ow!" she exclaimed as a pillow hit her head. "That hurt!"she shouted, rubbing her forehead. Tripp was over acting she knew but she was still in the 'just awake' stage. And what she'd realised was that after waking up her actions consisted of her getting very hyper about things. She was convinced Matt was the main influence with this. He did the same thing when woken up or pissed off.

"It better hurt." Mello growled, stepping further into the room "Now stop changing the subject." He collapsed down on Tripp bed, leaning back on his hands. "Its Matt's birthday today and-" he started before being interrupted.

"It's Matt's birthday today! Why didn't he tell me?" Tripp exclaimed throwing her hands into the air. Stupid gamer. If she'd known it was his birthday she could have gotten him something. Now it was kinda useless. Mello's glare caused Tripp to purse her lips, make a zipping motion and through away the key. She may be in her odd mode but she wasn't completely stupid.

"Good. Now as I was saying. It's Matt's Birthday today. He didn't tell you because he doesn't bloody well remember himself. There's a small party set up for him in the dining room but I need you to go and round people up." He said, crossing his arms. Tripp grimaced.

"Why me?" she asked, backing up and crossing her arms to mimicking Mello.

"'Cause people like you more than they like me. You'll get more people to come." He said as if it was obvious.

"What did you usually do?" she asked.

"Ask Linda. But I can't find her so I'm asking you." Tripp glared at him deeply but this being Mello it didn't even faze him. _Note to self_, she thought. _Work on evil glare_.

"You truly do have a way with words Mello. Glad to know I was Plan B." She said, rolling her eyes, not truly hurt but trying to push Mello's buttons. It was surprisingly fun when you got used to his Rampages.

"Now you know how I feel." He mumbled through not low enough for Tripp not to hear it.

"Aw! Chin up Mells." Tripp said, sitting down beside him, copying Matt's nickname for him. One Mello hated with a deep burning passion. Almost as much as Willy Wonka, through not as much as he hated Mello Yellow. I guess being third in line leaves you with very little to do.

"To me and Matt you'll always number one. The Number one Bestest Friend Ever!" she exclaimed cheesily, like something out of Barney the Dinosaur before throwing her arms around him. Mello sighed, exasperated, just dealing with the hug. Also ignoring the fact that it kinda felt nice.

"You've been hanging around with Matt for _way_ too long." He mumbled making Tripp laugh.

"Yeah, well that's more you're problem than mine. And anyway," she said standing up and heading to the door. "I better go on my great mission to find the lost party guests. When does the party start?" she asked, turning on her hips.

"Try and get people there by 5:50. I'll get Matt there at about 6." Mello stated, still sitting on the bed. Tripp gave him a thumbs up and left to find people, leaving Mello shaking his head.

He really had to keep Tripp away from Matt. For his own mental health more than anything.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Small giggles followed by people whispering "shh" to each other was all that could be heard inside the dark room. The odd Streamers and balloons were scattered around the floor and table along with a giant cake and other snacks.

"This had better be important Mello." Matt's voice audible from behind the door. "I was _trying_ to defeat a prissy asshole from America at Halo and then you went and got me killed by barging in saying that Roger wanted me causing me to get shot in the head. It's not _funny_ Mello, and this isn't even the _way_ to Roger's office!" Matt exclaimed, probably flapping his arms about. He got like that when pissed off.

More giggling came from some girls in the corner but they quickly shut up when the door began opening, light seeping in from the hall.

"And why the hell is it so dark in here." Matt asked walking in, as Mello went to turn on the lights. "What the hell did you do Mello?" Matt accused, turning to face Mello as the light switched on.

"Surprise!" Everyone screamed jumping up from behind tables, chair and whatever else they could find. "Happy Birthday Matt!" everyone cheered as Matt jumped up and took a very unhelpful fighting stance before calming down a bit as he saw there was no danger. His mouth moved, silently wording "Holy Shit" at all the people in the room and at the fact that it was his birthday. Had a year gone by that fast?

"Happy Birthday Goggles!" Tripp exclaimed, giving him a hug before high-fiving Mello. Matt pointed a finger at them both, glaring accusingly.

"You were both in on this?" he accused. Both nodded unashamed and grinning like mad people.

"Yep. Mello did most of the work though, I just got the people here. Kids are surprisingly fickle when you say cake will be there."Tripp shrugged. "By the way you have reached a new level of Hippie gamer. You _forgot_ your own _birthday_!" Tripp exclaimed flapping her arms about.

"You forgot yours!" Matt replied, poking her.

"Yeah! But I have also forgotten everything before the past three months!"She said making Matt glare in defeat.

"Touché." He mumbled, taking out his DS and starting it up. Mello hit him over the head.

"Aren't you even going to _pretend_ people actually came?" he asked, starting a stupid argument between the two that would consist of them calling each other stupid names before realising that it really didn't matter at all or before they forgot about it completely.

Everyone else stood in their own groups talking and eating cake after Matt blew out the candles. It was a huge cake- chocolate of course- and there was still some left over after it had been cut and shared out. Which was why Tripp sat eating her second slice of cake as other students went up to Matt giving him their present.

She'd asked pretty much everyone to come, at least everyone she could find in the time she was given. Though she had trouble finding Near, Leif and Linda. Still couldn't find them by the time the party had started. Luckily, Leif's friends has found her and got her to come and Linda's friends said that she was working on an Art project that was due in two days and couldn't leave. Near however was still M.I.A. Sighing, Tripp stood, taking two more bits of cake, wrapping them in napkins. Putting them in a small party bag – why Mello had bothered with them, Tripp wasn't sure- Tripp snuck out of the party.

Running down the hall Tripp made her way to the Art room first, then planning to go to the Play room to find Near. Just because they weren't there didn't mean that they couldn't have cake.

"Linda!" Tripp called into the Art room, peeking into the room before walking in. The faint sound of rustling was all she heard before a paint brush was dropped into water.

The art room walls were painted white and mint green, ivy and other climbing plants had wrapped themselves around the columns. Several easels where scattered around the room, along with the main desks. Sinks where up against the windows and the teacher's desk at the other side.

"Linda!" Tripp called again walking further in. Finally she found Linda behind an easel, working on her project. "Wow." Tripp said, staring at the painting in amazement. She'd heard Linda was a good artist, but she'd never guessed she was this good. A large Venetian clown took up one side of the portrait painting, wearing a red and white costume **[2].** Piano keys were wrapped underneath its large frilled costume and a full moon on the other side. She wasn't sure what was in the bottom corner as it hadn't been finished yet but so far it was beautiful.

"You're really good." Tripp said as Linda turned, noticing her presence. Linda flushed lightly as she saw Tripp standing behind her and looked down, pushing a strand of hair behind her head. She hadn't heard her come in.

"Thanks." She mumbled, going back to the painting, Tripp's glaze unnerving her.

"Oh, I brought something for you." Tripp said, taking the cake out of the bag. "Here. If you don't get it now then it'll be gone by the time you get there. I'm going to give some to Near in a minute too." She stated. Linda took the cake and smiled.

"Thanks. Before you go can you take this to Near." Standing Linda went over to what I guessed was her desk and took out a Rubik's cube. "He dropped it yesterday and I tried to find him earlier but couldn't. Seeing as you're going to see him you should take it. I'll probably be in here for a while yet." Tripp nodded, taking the Rubik's cube that had either been solved or was unused.

"Sure. Bye Linda." Tripp waved, backing up as she left to the Playroom.

Looking down at her watch as she ran down the halls she saw that it was now 7pm. She'd been gone for about fifteen minutes now. Well, that art room was rather far away from the dining room.

Skidding to a stop at the Playroom door she straightened her tunic before going in.

Near sat in the Playroom now, starting on a card building. She never got how people did that. When she tried the cards just slipped down.

"Hello Tripp." Near called from his place in the room as Tripp walked in, looking around as she always did when she entered a room she wasn't used to.

"Hey Near. Where were you earlier? I came to tell you about Matt's Birthday party but you weren't here." Tripp said, sitting down a little bit away from him so she wouldn't knock the cards over. Near sat for a moment as he placed two cards on the tower before continuing.

"I went looking for my Rubik cube but I couldn't find it. I did hear about the party though, I didn't want to go. Too many people." He said, twirling a hand through his hair. Looking up as she remembered, Tripp took the Rubik's cube out of the small bag along with the piece of cake.

"Here. Linda found it and told me to give it to you. And there also chocolate cake there if you want it." She told him standing and handing them both to him over the cards. Luckily, not knocking it over.

"Thank you." He said. He'd gotten friendlier with Tripp since she began going to see him every so often. Becoming another friend like Linda and Matt and acting like an older sister, keeping him involved with what was going on. Matt sometimes came to but that was only when Mello was gone somewhere or absorbed with some school project.

"Did you know it was Matt's Birthday?" Tripp asked. Near nodded.

"I heard Mello setting it up with Roger a couple of weeks ago." He stated, making Tripp mumble cuss words under her breath.

"Ass. He only told me about it today." Tripp mumbled, Near grinned slightly.

"He probably thought you would try to get involved with the planning. He doesn't like people interfering with his plans." Near stated making Tripp nod before shrugging.

"Good point." She said, standing and brushing herself off. "Before I go, I want to ask you something. Do you hate Mello?" Tripp asked. It had been bugging her for a while now. When she talked to Mello about Near he would go on an angry rant. But when she talked to Near about Mello, he was perfectly calm and positive about him. Near continued building when he answered.

"He's smart and has earned my respect. I don't see any reason to hate him." He said, twirling his hair. Tripp nodded, smiling lightly. At least it wasn't _totally_ impossible that they could be friends. Through it was _highly_ improbable.

Turning as the Playroom door opened Tripp saw Mello standing there, arms crossed looking seriously pissed off. Quietly he turned and walked away causing Tripp to glare at the empty door way. Stupid, stuck up, chocolate loving blonde.

"You better go." Near said, not looking up. Tripp nodded slowly before waving bye to Near. Running out the room he went down the hall to try and find Mello, where ever he had gone to. Finally she found him in the North wing.

"What's shakin' blondie?" Tripp asked, throwing an arm round Mello's neck when she found him. Growling he pushed her off and walked ahead. Groaning in annoyance, tempted to stamp her feet Tripp ran after him, this time taking a more direct approach.

"What the hell Tripp!" he exclaimed as she tackled him to the ground. Smiling in success Tripp stood.

"You were ignoring me. I was trying to get your attention." She shrugged as if it was obvious. Mello glared at her, before standing up and looking away.

"What do you want Tripp?" he asked. Tripp glared back.

"For you to stop PMSing and whining over the fact I was talking to Near. It's not illegal y'know!" she stated. Mello continued glaring at her.

"Come on Mello. Talking to Near isn't going to kill me and I'm still your friend too. Why did you come looking for me in the first place?" she asked. Letting out a breath, Mello looked to the side.

"Matt wondered where you'd run off to. He was worried that Kyle might find you." He stated. That was only partly true, it was more like Mello put the idea into Matt's head when he discovered Tripp was gone. He got worried.

Not that he'd _ever_ admit it, even to himself. To be perfectly honest, Kyle had stopped bugging Tripp now. She was no longer interesting enough to annoy.

Chuckling Tripp walked up to Mello and put a hand on his shoulders.

"Well then. We better get back before Matt starts filling for your divorce." She grinned, laughter following as she ran like hell, Mello running after her.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

**A/N: Sorry about the time it took to get this one out. I got Repetitive Strain Injury recently and was banned from typing and the computer. **

**Notes:**

**[1] – Because I used games and consoles in previous chapters that weren't released at the time of the Manga, I'm going to use the Anime timeline. I'll stick with the Manga story but with the anime timeline as I'm about to keep the games and consoles I mentioned.**

**[2] - This clown was taken from Victoria Frances' "Favole 2: Set Me Free." I couldn't find a picture unfortunately but I do recommended to get the book anyway as the pictures are amazing.**


	7. Fire and Ice

"_Sincere forgiveness isn't coloured with expectations that the other person apologize or change. Don't worry whether or not they finally understand you. Love them and release them. Life feeds back truth to people in its own way and time."_

_~Sara Paddison_

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

She kept telling herself she didn't know why she was here, but she knew that was an outright lie. She knew exactly why: why she felt the need to come here and sit the cold metal seats. Watching doctors in white coats and orderlies walk by with patients beside them.

To see him.

She remembered hearing her name being called from the hall outside the games room only yesterday. It had been a rather lazy afternoon, it being the weekend after all and as usual Mello, Matt and Tripp decided to hang around in the games room. Mainly because Matt got a new game and would annoy them for a month- no kidding, Mello had suffered through one - if they didn't let him play it that very day.

Poking her head in, Leif looked around before finding Tripp lounging on the same couch as Mello and Matt on the floor as he played his video games. Leif was a year older than the group, with a strange obsession with plants – her inspiration for her name- she had a gift with biology and chemistry. She had been brought to Whammy House because of this talent and was currently studying advanced botanical biochemistry with a university professor that had been called in.

No guess who her favorite super-villain was.

Breathing heavily from running around the orphanage looking for her, Leif said.

"Roger wants to see you." Frowning, Tripp stood and followed Leif to Roger's office wondering why. She hadn't done anything wrong, at least she didn't think she had. Unless the boys had done something stupid and decided to pin it on her. She wouldn't put it past them.

"Ah, Tripp. Please sit down." Roger said as Tripp opened the door to his office. She rarely came in here, usually she was outside waiting for Mello and Matt to come out after being shouted at for their behaviour. For geniuses they never did get the hint that they where annoying Roger. Either that or they enjoyed irritating him. The latter was the most likely.

The room was what you would expect to see in a scholar's room, books after books lining the right wall, an old looking globe and a small cabinet with old whiskeys and wines. Even he needed to relax after dealing with child geniuses on a daily bases after all. Dead bugs where also lined up in a cabinet behind him, preserved by Roger himself apparently.

She had a bad feeling when she went into the room. Roger looked worried, like he was trying to think of the best way to say something. It wasn't helping her calm.

"Tripp." He sighed, clasping his hands in front of him as he spoke, "There is no softer way to say this." he paused for a moment, causing worry to grow in her stomach.

"They've found the man that stabbed you Tripp."

That's what led her here, to Bethlem Royal Hospital in London, to see the man that stabbed her, took away her memories. Or, at least caused her brain to hide them in a deep dark cave that their scared to leave as the brain in threatening them with a knife...

She really needed to stop hanging around Matt.

"Now...Tripp? Be careful when you go in." Said the doctor, leading her into the room the man resided. "He is a paranoid schizophrenic and seriously disturbed. If he does anything to make you feel uncomfortable all you have to do leave." Said the doctor kindly as she led her into the room, she'd be behind glass but that didn't mean he couldn't try anything.

He was pacing behind the glass, hands up to his mouth as he mumbled incoherent words and phrases. He looked up quickly as Tripp walked in, his eyes widening in recognition.

"She's alive. The werewolf would have died. Werewolves don't like silver, she's not a werewolf. You lied to me!" He shouted out the last sentence after mumbling the others, causing Tripp to jump. He had short brown hair, a stubble, tanned skin and his eyes where wide in fear. All that came to Tripp's mind when she saw him was a scared school kid.

Pausing and taking in deep breathes as if he was suffocating, he looked around to room as if looking for something that he couldn't find. Finally he sat in front of her, head bowed as he breathed heavily mumbling under his breath.

"The smell of barbershops makes me break into hoarse sobs. The only thing I want is to lie still like stones or wool. The only thing I want is to see no more stores, no gardens, no more goods, no spectacles, no elevators. It so happens that I am sick of my feet and my nails and my hair and my shadow. It so happens I am tired of being a man."**[1]** He stopped after that and looked up at her, eyes wide.

"Who are you?" Tripp asked, brow knitted slightly in what she believed to be concern, concern for the man that could barely construct a logical sentence. She knew who he was, she had been told by Roger.

Richard Young, never worked and was looked after by his mother and older brother until he became too much for them. Along with the Paranoid Schizophrenia, he also has as serve case of Aspergers Syndrome. They were planning to bring him here on the day of her attack but he ran. They let him go, expecting him to come back. They never expected he would hurt anyone.

He looked at her in confusion, as if he didn't understand what she was saying. Looking down he began fidgeting with his fingers, then looking around before turning to face Tripp again. He leaned close to the glass, as if telling her a secret.

"Nobody." He said softly, no hint of insanity in his eyes anymore. Suddenly the look was back, shocked and confused about what happened. Richard began fidgeting again, looking around nervously as he rocked back and forth.

"Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. From what I've tasted of desire I hold with those who favour fire. But if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate to say that for destruction ice is also great and would suffice."**[2]** Tripp sighed and looked down. She didn't know what to say.

"Do you know who I am?" she asked. Maybe he had been told to go after her, or maybe the rant for earlier rang true. He didn't think she was human. He looked up.

"A Werewolf that... really... _wasn't_ a werewolf, even though the voice said you were. That you were going to kill me. The voice said to kill you. The voice was wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong." He stated, laughing slightly at the end. Tripp's frown deepened.

"What voice?" Tripp asked.

"The voice talks to me. I hear it, it tells me things and never; _stops!"_ He exclaimed before dying down into ramblings, leaning his head against his hands that lay against the table. Tripp's closed. He was insane, what was she to do?

They sat there, the only sound coming from Richard's ramblings for a while. Finally he looked up to Tripp and said one last thing to her before her time was up, mouthing it as if someone was trying to force it back down his throat.

"I'm sorry."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Tripp let out a deep breath, as leaned on the tree trunk that has grown up against the wall she was sitting on, situated at the back of the orphanage gardens.

You could see the city of Winchester from her spot, the Orphanage was situated on the outskirts of the city so it made for a good place to see the night sky without much light pollution.

It had taken about 2 hours to get back to the Orphanage so she arrived back after dinner, but she'd gotten a Subway sandwich on the way back so she didn't miss out on food. Instead of heading in when she got back she went to the garden wall, hoping that if she sat there long enough she would grow to hate what Richard had done to her. Taken her previous life from her.

"How long have you been out here?" an all too familiar voice asked from behind. Turning her head, the familiar head of blonde hair came into view.

"Hey Mello." She said, turning back. Mello glared at her back, jumping up onto the wall so he sat beside her.

"You didn't answer my question." He stated. Tripp shrugged.

"About three hours maybe more; maybe less." Tripp stated, deciding to be as vague as possible to annoy him. Mello just glared again before turning away and facing the city along with her. He had come out along with Matt to find her, under orders from Roger as it was close to lights out.

"Matt's out looking for you as well. It's almost light's out and Roger wants you back inside before he locks the doors. Either that or you're sleeping outside." He said.

Silence.

"He was totally insane Mello." Tripp stated quietly needing to tell someone. Maybe she was mental for not feeling any hatred, and if it came from Mello at least she knew it was an honest opinion. Mello turned his head so he could see her face which was still facing ahead, brows knitted in thought. Roger had told Mello and Matt about the fact her attacker had been found, but only after they had bugged him about it for 20 minutes straight. To be honest both boys had hoped Roger would have taken longer to snap as they didn't have anything else to bug him with, and watching Roger snap was funnier than seeing Matt lose a video game.

"No matter how many times I think it over, I can't hate him for attacking me." She murmured, unsure _herself_ if it was herself she was talking to or Mello. Mello leaned back slightly.

"How insane are we talking here?" he asked. After Beyond Birthday, Mello's scale of insane was rated from Ted Bundy to Beyond Birthday. Though Charles Manson was a close second to Beyond. Tripp laughed.

"He thought I was a Werewolf." She grinned sadly turning to him. "And that I was trying to kill him." She said. Mello shook his head, sighing. What some people lived with. Looking back up, he couldn't help but feel like he should say something comforting. Tripp was staring into space now, still frowning. Sighing Mello put a hand on Tripp's shoulder feeling immensely ridiculous.

"He was obviously insane Tripp. Was unable to tell reality from fiction. It's okay to feel sorry for him." He stated, watching her. Tripp chuckled lightly turning to Mello, giving him a knowing look.

"You didn't mean a word you just said did you?" she smiled knowingly. He shook his head.

"Not a bit." He scoffed, leaning back on his arms trying to act tough. Tripp rolled her eyes. Typical Mello.

"Typical." She muttered before looking up to him. "But, thanks anyway." She said, putting a hand on his shoulder. Mello couldn't stop the heat rising to his face.

Stupid feelings would be the death of him one day.

Sighing Tripp stretched and jumped down to the ground, not that the wall was that high. "We better go before we end up sleeping outside. I don't know about you but sleeping outside in the middle of February doesn't seem like fun. Mello. Mello?" she called when she realised he wasn't listening. But Mello was preoccupied.

Was he...blushing?

Of course Tripp was oblivious to this fact, and it was dark out, lucky for him. But still, he didn't like Tripp that way...did he?

Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.

Tripp let out and exasperated sigh.

"Fine suit yourself. Freeze your butt of out here for all I care." She scoffed walking away. Mello glared at Tripp's retreating figure.

Shit.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

[1]- "Walking Around" by Pablo Neruda

[2]- "Fire and Ice" by Robert Frost


End file.
